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Chris Robbins of SUNY Purchase is teaching his students to squat illegally in properties owned by third parties (“His Students Know Squat,” April 11).

Why? “So they will learn to cross boundaries and think outside the box.”

They should instead buy some watercolors and draw kooky pictures like my 3-year-old, so that we don’t have to read about one of his presumably financially secure hipster students getting killed by a fellow squatter, who may be unstable due to drug, alcohol or mental problems.

Maybe the class should help squatters with no other options find a home, volunteer for City Harvest or go squat in Robbins’ suburban home.

David Schechtman, Manhattan

“His Students Know Squat” shows the mistake in advising people to do things when you don’t understand what is actually happening, never mind the physical danger to these young people of going into abandoned buildings that are likely to be dangerous. Had he taken even a cursory tour of Jamaica, one of the neighborhoods he recommends squatting in, he would have noticed a lively local renovation and resale market that takes vacant abandoned buildings, buys them cheap and resells them.

This kind of activity should be encouraged by everyone with an interest in rebuilding neighborhoods. Creating obstacles (like illegal squatting) only delays the recovery of neighborhoods from the abandonment caused by the collapse of the recent housing bubble.